Jeff Bachman was a burned-out journalist living in Syracuse,
N.Y., when two experiences during the late ’80s changed his life. An
issue of National Geographic that focused on the global environmental
crisis initiated one of them.

"I read the thing cover to cover and it really inspired
me to want to be an environmental advocate for a career," says Bachman,
an environmental law specialist for the Oregon Department of Environmental
Quality (DEQ). "I wasn’t really dying to be an attorney, but I
wanted to be an environmental advocate and still be able to feed my family.
I figured I had a better chance of that as a lawyer rather than working for
a nonprofit signing up people on the street."

The Detroit native and his wife, Kathy, moved to Portland so
he could attend Lewis & Clark College’s Northwestern School of Law.
Already armed with a master’s in environmental policy from State University
of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Bachman,
46, earned his J.D. with a certificate in environmental law in 1995 and went
to work for DEQ shortly after.

Bachman’s commitment to environmental quality is one of
several attributes Jane Hickman, administrator for DEQ’s Office of Compliance
and Enforcement, says she admires.

"Jeff understands the reasons behind all of our laws and
he works very hard to enforce them," she says. "He’s very
creative in coming up with solutions, and he’s very articulate in explaining
things to people so they typically just pay their fine and try to do better."

Bachman says he appreciates the chance to work as an advocate
for the state’s environmental quality, though there are plenty of challenges
that come along with the job.

"It’s always a question of trying to find the right
balance. In enforcement, we seek to deter pollution sources from violating
Oregon’s environmental laws, but in hard times, many see environmental
regulation as a drag on the economy," Bachman says. "We serve all
the people of Oregon, not just those who think of themselves as environmentalists
and not just the members of the regulated community. Our task is to craft
enforcement actions that promote compliance without creating undue economic
hardship.

"As an agency, the challenge is that we have an enormous
responsibility and an enormous workload and we just don’t have the resources
to do as good a job as we’d like. And with the current economic climate,
that doesn’t look like it will change anytime soon," he adds.

One of the benefits of working for a public agency, Bachman
says, is a standard 40-hour week. His schedule offers what he calls a nice
balance and allows him to pursue other interests, such as helping his wife,
Kathy, run her small handmade soap business, brewing his own beer and playing
ultimate Frisbee.

The majority of his free time, however, is dedicated to the
second life-changer: his involvement in Amnesty International (AI). Kathy
signed up for more information about the 48-year-old human rights group after
encountering AI at the New York State Fair. AI’s exhibit included a
person locked in a cage to illustrate the human rights violations that occur
every day in 150 countries around the world. The Bachmans were contacted by
a young man who wanted to start an AI chapter in Utica, N.Y. in 1988, and
the two have been members ever since.

Over the last two decades, Jeff Bachman’s work for AIUSA
has ranged from growing local chapters to fighting human rights violations
in East and Southeast Asia, specifically in Indonesia and East Timor. Since
1995, he has been deeply involved in the organization’s International
Justice and Accountability Campaign, which works to bring alleged perpetrators
of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity to trial before national
and international courts, including the International Criminal Court.

Among AI’s current priorities is ending human rights abuses
that occur within the context of the U.S.-led War on Terror, he notes.

"AI’s work in the U.S. to end the human rights abuses
that have occurred during the War on Terror is huge, not only for victims
of the war but also because, as the world’s only superpower, other nations
look to the U.S. for leadership," Bachman says. "If the U.S. is
going to lock up people without a trial or use torture and ill-treatment,
it sort of gives other governments the idea, ‘If the U.S. can do it,
why can’t we as well?’ The ramifications of what the U.S. does
go far beyond who we may have in detention, but also contributes to other
human rights violations around the world."

Last summer, Bachman was elected chair of the board of directors
for Amnesty International USA. Mona Cadena, AI’s Western Region Deputy
Chair, met Bachman a decade ago when he was a country specialist and she was
an unpaid intern. She says the scope of work Bachman has done for AI over
the years makes him a stronger leader.

"He’s worked for AI on so many different levels that
he really has a broad knowledge of how the organization operates. It’s
a very unique perspective, and that across-the-board experience will truly
benefit AI," Cadena says.

Bachman says his role as chair, a position that also has been
held by Kathy, is a humbling one.

"It’s amazing that people have that much confidence
in my ability to lead a $45 million organization with 175 staff and 350,000
members," he says. "Obviously it’s a great honor and a privilege
to lead the organization. I’ve seen firsthand that it’s an organization
that saves lives by empowering ordinary individuals to do important human
rights work."

Still, there is much more to be done, and attorneys have the
opportunity to make a huge difference, Bachman says.

"This year is the 60th anniversary of the signing of the
U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [It] was the first step
in establishing the international legal framework protecting human rights,
but we’re still very far away from a world where every individual has
those rights honored and respected," he says. "I think lawyers have
a huge role to play in building a world where human rights violations are
the exception and not the norm. We have the legal framework – it’s
just making the laws we have actually mean something to people."

ABOUT THE AUTHORMelody Finnemore is a Portland-area freelance writer and a frequent contributor
to the Bulletin.